So… it took a while for me to update my blog with my final thoughts about the run. Overall…. It was GREAT!

My friend Kelly, who ran the her FIRST marathon there did fantastic and we had great fun while we were there (just us girls!)

So…. here is how it all went down… (warning… this might be a little long…..) – 🙂

Left Toronto at 7:00am in the morning…. got to Orlando at around 10:30am…. by the time we reached our resort… it was around 11:15amish and we basically went straight to the expo to register and get our ‘race’ stuff…. After spending a while there and LOTS of money…. we retired for the night at our resort.

On Friday…. we decided to go to Hollywood Studios and spend most of the day there…. came back and ended up heading into Downtown Disney for dinner…. at this point… I’m pretty much stressing out…. because I have to get up on Saturday morning to do a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles/21.1km). After much changing clothes to decide what I was going to wear (I think Kelly got tired of seeing the ‘fashion show’). I finally went to bed at 11:30pmish.

Got up Saturday morning at 2:30am, had shower and headed for the start of the race. It was nice that I got the race retreat (allowed me to be in a ‘temperature’ controlled tent…. although the weather was not as COLD as last year’s race!)…. I basically waited it out and finally met my ‘jimmey cricket’ —- this is the person who I had been communication with over e-mail about our training. He was a great support and helped me a lot along the way! You can see his blog at: http://blogs.technet.com/b/matthewms/ — you will need to go back to January 24th, 2011 date for his final blog on Goofy. Below is a picture of him and me in the race treat tent before the race:

Before the Race (1/2 marathon)

So… he did want to try and start in the corral together….. but knowing myself…. when I get nervous…. I tend to use the ‘little girl’s room’ ALOT. AND true to my word…. I ended up going to the port-a-potty 3 times before the START of the race! Getting to the corrals for the start line was really BUSY….. made it there. And off we went…. below are a few pictures with ‘characters’ I ran into along the way:

Me and the Step Sisters and Mother

Me and Rapunzel

Jack Sparrow - but not the really Johnny Depp (too bad!)

Overall… I took it easy on the race and finished comfortably….. My biggest worry was how am I going to feel before the Marathon and during the Marathon race. Well…. the next 24 hours…. was telling….

Kelly and I ended up going to the expo again… spent lots of money again! But I decided to get a massage and BOY was that great! The person (whose name slipped my mind….) did a great job because by the evening…. I was feeling pretty good!

After laying out our stuff for the full marathon…. Kelly and I were ready to go! We got up in the morning at around 2:30am and was at the race retreat by 3:15amish…. it was a bit of a wait…. but we did make it to the start line. Here is a couple of photos of us before the race in the morning:

Here we are in the race retreat tent

Here we are waiting for the start

So… off we went when the race started…. I was feeling pretty good. By the 8-9 mile (12.8-14.4km)…. I was actually not bad! Here are a few characters that I met up with:

Fairies that happen to be on the side of the road

A car driver that I ran into along the way.... would not give me a lift though!

So as I am reaching the 1/2 point (13.1 miles/21.1km)…I looked at my watch and I was going to actually beat my 1/2 marathon time from the day before…. until I ran into the characters below and I had to take a picture with them!

Donald Duck and Goofy

Who else?

So…. after the picture…. I went merrily on my way and took a few more pictures before reaching the ultimate picture below:

I'm almost there!

Yes…. I know I only had 100 meters to go and I was there!

Finished and now have the 3 medals to prove it! The rest of the trip was history as they say…. Kelly and I enjoyed our accomplishments and maybe I’ll be back for another?????

I had told people that last year at Disney was my last race…. but look I came back again! Well……. last race is a lonnnnng time….. I may go back for the 10 year anniversary of Goofy (it will be in 4 years….) we shall see!

Kelly you did it!!!!! Not that I had ANY doubt in my mind.

My 'Jimmy Cricket' and me!

If you are interested in doing the Goofy and would like some advice…. please do not hesitate to drop me a line…. I think everyone can do it…. you just need the time to train and the mental aspect…. As for now… I leave you with the picture below:

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2011! Only 3 days left before I am on the plane to DISNEYWORLD!!!!!

Okay…. I am getting a little excited about going…. it’s been a long ride/training but I am sure it is all worth it!

This past week was a little bit less of training…. I did a aerobic class on Wednesday (my friend who is coming down with me to do the full marathon was teaching the class — good class, Kelly!) I managed to get outside on Friday to do a 4 mile (6.4 km) run and I wanted to do another run outside on the weekend but it didn’t materialize. SO…. my final longest run before the race was today (Monday). I did 8miles (12.8km) on the treadmill.

Now… it’s all downhill from here…. I think I’m going to try for 4 miles (6.4km) tomorrow and 3 miles (4.8km) on Wednesday… then rest, rest, rest for the 1/2 marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday! Whew….. I’m tired just thinking about it!

Well…. I probably will not be writing again until the race is done! Wish me luck and we will talk to you all when it is all OVER!

Well…. I DID IT…. my final 10 miles (16 km) and 20 miles (32km) back-to-back runs! Both on the TREADMILL…. Yes…. 20 miles and the treadmill….. hopefully, my last time…. I think this week is suppose to be nicer weather… so I’m going to try and get out for my last few runs…

What’s 20 miles on the treadmill like…. well… first hour of looking at the time/distance and trying to make 6.5 miles in 65 mins…. only got to 6.3 miles while watching news and ‘Last 10 pounds bootcamp’…. which was interesting….

Second hours was trying to get 6 miles in 65 mins…. only got to 5.8 miles while watching ‘What ever happen to….????’ — Saw someone from Welcome Back Kotter (there’s an old show for you!) and Luke Perry… then Tina Yothers from Family Ties (my favourite T.V. show from the 80’s)….

Third hour….. trying to just complete it…. and figure out how many more miles I needed to do! 11.9 miles more to be exact…. so by the end of the 65 mins (in which I had to stop for 4 mins to go to the bathroom…. left the treadmill running and ended up with .25 miles that I didn’t run…so… my brain was working overtime to figure out I needed to finish!)…. I ended up going to 4.97 miles in 65 mins with the stop while watching the ‘SING-OFF’— what a great show!

So… in my last hour…. if my calculations were right…. I need to do 3.18 miles and I ended up doing this in 41 mins (not great but DONE!!!!!) while still watching ‘SING-OFF’ and in the end the news…

So…. 20 miles in 3 hours and 56 mins…. not my best work but what do I expect???? Don’t to the time… don’t get the time (i.e. more training… may get me better time….).

Do I feel ready???? Well…. I think I will finish both races and get my 3 medals but I’m not sure about the time…. it may be a little slower… And most importantly…. I’ll pretty sure my recovery will be fine…..

So…. long winded blog… but… I’ll try and to a few more shorter runs this week (I think the longest will be 8 miles (12.8 km))….

Have a great week…. ONLY 10 more sleeps till I am on the plane to Disney!

I knew this week would be a tough week, given Christmas, work, kids activities (which finish this week for the holidays)….. So…. after the 20 miles on the treadmill last week…. it went to running 3 miles (4.8km) on Thursday and 4 miles (6.4 km) on Sunday. I do understand the pay for it now or pay for it later…. but I do plan to do my FINAL 10 mile/20mile back to back this week. If all goes as planned…. I should be doing the 10 miles on Sunday, December 26th and 20 miles on Monday, December 27th….. Then, it will be tapering till the day of the RACE!!!!! OMGosh….. only 16 more days till I am on the plane!!!!!

Thanks for reading and keeping me honest…. Have a great Christmas and we will talk after my long run on Monday, December 27th!

It’s been a rough few weeks but…. I did end up running on Friday (3.1 miles – 5 km), Saturday (10 miles – 16 km) and Sunday (today) – 20 miles (32 km) ON THE TREADMILL!!!!! —- only 1 more 10mile/20mile back to back run!

Yes…. I ended up running the FULL 20 miles on the treadmill…. but I remember someone saying to think about it like 3 short runs 😉 It wasn’t too bad…. there was a few movies on that I ended up watching some of them or all (sad that you can be on the treadmill that long to watch pretty much 2 complete movies!). I watched the end of Charlie’s Angel, most of Borrowed Hearts and about 1/2 of Santa Baby 2. Gotta love the Christmas movies!

It’s only 25 more days till I am on a plane to DisneyWorld!!!!!

Well…. this week will be interesting…. with 3 days of 5:30am – 6:00pm days and after work activities and kids Christmas concert! Then…. I’m pretty much working from home till I leave to DisneyWorld! I think my plan will be the following:

Well…. if you are reading this…. THANK YOU for stopping by! Sometimes I think I can put anything down and it won’t matter because noone is reading it!

This week has been ….. in one word….. BAD. My daugther had ‘dark week’ (if you are in the Theatre business…. you would know what I mean!). Basically, she was in Beauty and Beast last week (Dec. 3 and 4) and leading up to the show…. everyone (i.e. all actors) had to be at the theatre every night till around 10pm. With my work schedule and her rehearsal schedule…. we were up in the morning at around 5:30am and not back till around 10:30pm at night…. it was brutal…. BUT she had fun and really enjoyed herself!

What it meant for me…. was I didn’t do any running from my long run last Monday till this Wednesday (Dec. 8). I have a few days off and I’m going to try and run but we shall see how things go. As I mentioned in my previous post…. my goal is to do two more 10mile/20mile runs back to back…. I’m pretty sure I’ll do one this weekend and then…. hopefully, another one around Christmas time.